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The street fair and festival combo known as the Riverbank Cheese & Wine Exposition will return to the downtown area on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8 and 9 with a few tweaks made by the sponsoring Riverbank Rotary Club to an event that has proved hugely successful year after year.

Chardonnay, cabernet, riesling, zinfandel, pinot noir, merlot, dessert wines – all your favorites are there. These wines and more will all be making an appearance to satisfy the palates of wine enthusiasts at the 2011 Riverbank Cheese and Wine Festival on Oct. 8-9.

Family-friendly is the goal and that's exactly the kind of entertainment scheduled for the Riverbank Cheese and Wine Exposition, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8-9 on Santa Fe and Third streets in the heart of downtown Riverbank.

Oakdale voters will be faced with a decision on Nov. 8 that will help determine the city's finances for the next three years. Measure O will ask voters if they want to fund a half-cent sales tax increase on most purchases made within the City of Oakdale. The sales tax increase will go to Oakdale City general funds, which pays most of the city's expenses.

Upon the heels of Oakdale Rural Fire Protection District Chief Lee Winton's two-year term ending, negotiations have begun to bring on Steve Mayotte, Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Chief, on a limited, part-time basis as an administrative chief to Oakdale's rural district but the rural fire company's labor group members have been vocal in their concern.

Oakdale City Council is taking steps to get every streetlight in Oakdale turned back on in the near future. Council voted 5-0 at their Monday night meeting, Oct. 3, to seek loans to replace 810 city-owned streetlights with more energy-efficient magnetic induction fixtures.

Members of the Oak Valley Hospital District board welcomed Escalon native Vincent Arthur Bacay as their third Rural PRIME medical student at their Sept. 28 board meeting. Bacay will be working on an eight-week primary care rotation with several Oakdale doctors until Oct. 21.

Oakdale Planning Commission members reviewed a proposed city boundary map at their Sept. 21 meeting that would plan the city's growth for the next 50 years. The map is part of Stanislaus Local Agency Formation Commission's effort to get public input on a 50-year agricultural preservation and city growth plan.

The fight against graffiti is getting an unexpected boost in the form of ROTA (Riverbank Oakdale Transit Authority) surveillance cameras funded by a grant issued by the Department of Homeland Security.

Janelle Scheper looked all over the Central Valley for the perfect location for a new youth center, and she found her ideal spot in downtown Oakdale. The Zone, scheduled to open in October, will offer entertainment for children and youth from toddlers to teens at its South Second Avenue location.

Oakdale City Council members finalized a development agreement for a 155-unit housing development at their Monday night meeting, Sept. 19. In addition to the development agreement, council took action on several agenda items, including a contract for fire services and three Parks and Recreation decisions.